Gene therapy as a treatment of oral cancer: An insight

Oral cancer or oral squamous cell carcinoma comprises more than three-fourth of all the malignant neoplasms of the oral cavity. Worldwide, it is the 18^th most common malignancy. The patients suffering from cancer usually remains immune to the standard therapies such as surgical resection of tumours, radiotherapy and chemotherapy; however, there can be probabilities of chronic and acute toxicities and secondary malignancies as well. Recently, gene therapy has been introduced in the arena of biomedicine to improve the treatment modality for oral malignant and potentially malignant disorders. It replaces the defective gene followed by repairing by a therapeutic gene. Gene therapy can attack cancerous cells without causing harmful effect to the normal tissue. It is useful to cope with the relapse of diseases and as a synergetic treatment. The present article reviewed the types of gene therapy, modes of delivery of the therapeutic genes and different techniques used along with pros and cons of gene therapy.